Apparatus for continuously sheathing cores of material



Sept. 23, 1947! cs. .H. SITTNER I 2,427,930

APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUSLY SHEATHING CORES 0F MATERIAL Filed Sept. 28, 1945 Inventor: George H. Sit-truer, JO W His Attorney.

Patented Sept. 23, 1947 APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUSLY Same- ING cones F MATERIAL George H. Sittner, SchenectadjnN. Y., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application September 28, 1945,

2 Claims. (01. 1s-1a).

, I 1 My invention relates to apparatus for continuously sheathing cores of material, and more particularly to an apparatus for extruding a sheath or jacket upon wires and cables.

The extrusion method of applyin particularly an insulating sheath or jacket, to wires' or cables has been in use for many years. Such machines, an example of which is disclosed in United States Letters Patent 1,770,985, Kivley, which are often referred to as tubing machines, usually comprise a hopper into which the thermoplastic or thermosetting material to be extruded is fed. The material is heated to an extrudable condition in the machine which is provided with a conveyingscrew which forces the extrudable material under high pressure into the extrusion head where a die is provided which causes this material to surround the wire or cable to form a sheath or jacketfor the same. Such tubing machines have caused considerable difiiculty particularly when used with certain kinds of sheathing material due to inherent faults in the tubing machines which are known to the trade as lack of stream lining in the extrusion head and pockets in the extrusion head in which the plastic substance gathers in what are called cold or dead" spots. 'These cold or dead spots affect the uniformity of flow of the plastic material not only causing seams and openings in the sheath .or jacket, but also causing poor concentricity of the jacket relative to the wire or cable. These cold or dead spots usually occur in the slower moving portion of the plastic material just prior to its application to the cable in the forming die. In order to correct these difiiculties, manufacturers have provided bleeder valves in the extrusion heads of tubing machines so that more movement of the slower moving portion of the plastic material is obtained through escape of some of the material through the bleeder valve. Even with the bleeder valve wide open very unsatisfactory results are obtained with certain kinds of extrudable material and in addition a considerable loss of material is occasioned through the bleeder valve.

Attempts have alsobeen made to improve the flow of the plastic compound or extrudable material in the extrusion head by inserting bafile plates in the chambers of the head to direct the flow of the extrudable material to produce a sort of stream lined flow. The only results found with the use of such bafl'le plates, however, have been to change the positions of the dead spots with no improvement in the finished sheath or Serial No. 619 474 It would be desirable to provide an extrusion head for a tubing machine in which all dead or cold spots in the extrudable material adjacent the point where it is applied to the wire or ca l a e com le e rem ved a d a uniform temperature throughout the; movable mass of extrudable materialisobtained. H I

It is anobject ofmyfinvention to provide a new and improved extrusion head for tubin machines which overcomes the disadvantages of prior art arrangements enumerated above.

It is another objector my invention to provide an improved extrusion head in which the extrudable material passing thrq gh the head is constantly agitated not only to provide additional -.plasticity but to maintain uniform temperature andpressure. Y p y v Stillanother. object of my invention is to provide a movable agitator which, may readily be adapted with the extrusion head cf any tubing machine, which agitates the extrudable material to eliminate any cold or dead spots at a point Just ahe d .ofihe fo i die- Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent as; the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize my I invention will be pointed. out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

For a better vunderstanding of my invention referencemay behad to the accompanying drawing inwhich Fig.4 isa sectional view of the extrusion head Qf a tubing machine embodying my inventiomand Fig. 2; is an enlarged view of the agitator embodied in my invention shown in Fig.,,1.

Referring nowito the drawing, there is illustrated an extrusion headJ- for atubing machine which may be of any well known construction. A complete description; of the tubing machine is notessential; for an understanding of my invention. It suffices to say that the tubing ma-- chine is provided wltha conveying screw which forces the extrudable material generally indicated at {and illustrated as insulating material, through a'chamber 3 into extrusion head I which is preferably supportedirom chamber 3.. As illustr'ated the axisj of the extrusion head I 'is perpendicular to .the axis of the chamber 3 which may be referred to' as the feed screw chamber. The material to be extruded, which may comprise a'thermosetting or thermoplastic material, may; besupplied to the tubing machine as cold; granular stockin'one extreme, or hot,

milled stock intheiother', extreme. When the flow around it to encircle the core to be sheathed or jacketed. A suitable diejB forms the coating on the cable 5. Die 6 is preferably removably.

supported by suitable die holders 1 and 8 which may be positioned in a recess Sin extrusion head l. A suitable locking nut I insures that the die is properly held in position in the head I.

Guider or leader 4 in prior art arrangements is preferably capable of movement along the axis of wire or cable 5, whereby the flow of plastic material toward the die may be controlled. In order to control such longitudinal movement of guider 4 and also to support the same in prior art arrangements, a longitudinally adjustable sleeve H is provided within extrusion head I. Sleeve H is mounted in extrusion head I and is prevented from rotating' relative thereto by means of a suitable key, not shown. Movement of sleeve ll may be obtained by rotation of an adjusting nut l-3 which when final adjustment is completed, is held in position by locking nut l4. The end of longitudinal adjusting sleeve H adjacent die 6 in prior art arrangements directly supports guider or leader 4. In such prior art arrangements the wire or cable 5 slowly moved through the chamber l5 defined in extrusion head I. The extrudable material '2 supplied by a screw (not shown) was forced around guider 4 and a sleeve or jacket 15 was formed by virtue of die 6. It is quite apparent that the extrudable material flowing around the cable 5 by virtue of the non-streamlined now, is likely to have slow moving portions forming cold or dead spots and as a practical matter this was found to occur with the resultant jacket or sheath having inherent defects and often'having very poor concentricity. v 1

In accordance with my invention an arrangement is provided to constantly agitate the extrudable substance as it passes through the extrusion head I before itpasses through 'die 6 whereby additional plasticity and the maintenance ofuniform temperature and pressure throughout the material at this point is obtained. In accordance with my invention guider or leader 4 is not supported by adjustable sleeve H but instead sleeve H supports at its end adjacent die 6 a, suitable alloy bearing H. At the other end ofadjustable sleeve H there is provided a bearing holder i8 for supporting a, ball bearing race l9. Bearing holder I8 is threadedly supported on sleeve H as is indicated at 20. Rotatable within bearing I1 and the bearing incorporated in bearing race 19 is a rotatable tube 2| which is threaded at one end as indicated at 22 to support'guider 4-. Theother end of rotatable tube 2| is provided with a collar 23-,"having openings 24 therein for accommodating a manual lever or wrench, and a sprocket wheel 25 which may be driven from a suitable motor through chain 26. g

Also in accordance with my invention I provide an agitator 2], bestshown in-Fig. 2' as an annular disk having a plurality of-slots .28 cut around the circumferencelthereoi. Ag'itator fl is keyed by means of an integral key 29 with 4 guider 4 so as to rotate with rotatable tube 2i and guider 4. Agitator 21 substantially fills the annular space around guider 4 through which the extrudable material 2 must pass during the tubing operation. I have found that very satisfactory operation can be obtained by rotating tube 2| and consequently agitator 21 at a relatively slow speed such as approximately '6 R. P. M. whereby the extrudable material is constantly agitated as it is extruded onto the cable in its passage over guider 4 prior to being sized while passing through die 6.

It should be understood that sprocket 25 may be'driven from any suitable means such as a separate motor provided with a gear reducer. Although I have illustrated the agitator as being driven from the left-hand end of the extrusion head I as viewed in Fig. 1, it will be obvious that it might also be driven from the die end of the extrusion head. Also although the agitator 21 is illustrated as having a rotational movement, an oscillating motion might be applied thereto through suitable driving means which would also produce the desired result of eliminating dead or cold spots.

In the operation of my new and improved cable sheathing or jacketing device, ametal dummy is first inserted in extrusion head I and the extrudable material, which is usually insulating material, is extruded on the dummy to obtain the correct tubing for concentricity and thick-. ness.

At this time adjustable sleeve II is moved longitudinally which causes movement of guider 4 by virtue of the shoulder 30 on rotatable tube 2| adjacent bearing race Hi. When the proper adjustments have been made the cable 5 is inserted through extrusion head I and insulated or jacketed to the correct diameter which can be obtained by increasing or decreasing the cable speed through guider 4.

With my invention it has been found possible to greatly increase the output aside from the fact that a much more satisfactory product is obtained. Also by virtue of rotating guider 4 a tighterfittingguider with respect to cable 5 may be employed whereby a higher degree of concentricity oi the jacket or sleeve [6 is obtained. The rotating or movable agitator prevents the formation of so-called cold or dead spots and improved plasticity of the compound dueto this agitation is also obtained. No bleeder valve, with the consequent loss of material the'rethrough, need be employ d and I have. also found that the apparatus may be run; at lower temperatures in the extrusion head I which results in a reduced porosity of thejacket or sheath. Also with my invention, a simple adjustment for concentricity may be made with a dummy and no other adjustment is necessary when the cable is inserted in the extrusion head.

While I have shown and described a particular embodiment of my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various, changes and modifications may be made without departing from my invention in its broader aspects and I, therefore, aim in the appended claims to cover all such-changes and modifications as fall Within the true spirit and scope or myinvention.

What I claim asnew and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In an apparatus for producing a sheath of extrudable insulating material on a movable core, a chamber for containing extrudable materialunder pressuraan extrusion head tobe supplied with extrudable material from said chamber and having an opening through which the core is movable, a die positioned in said opening for forming the sheath on the core, a rotatable guider in said head for guiding the flow of extrudable material to said die and having an opening through which the core is movable to said die, and a slotted annular disk rotated by and extending radially from said guider for agitating said material.

2. In an apparatus for producing a sheath of extrudable insulating material on a movable core, a chamber for containing extrudable material under pressure, an extrusion head to be supplied with extrudable material from said chamber and having an opening through which the core is movable, a die positioned in said opening for forming the sheath on the core, a tube rotatably mounted in said head and surrounding the core prior to its entrance into said die, a guider secured to and surrounding said tube at the die end thereof for guiding the flow of extrudable material to said die, and a slotted annular disk 20 6 connected to and extending radially from die end of said tube for agitating said material as it approache said die.

GEORGE H. SIT'INER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name 7 Date 655,706 Gillmore Aug. 14, 1900 1,595,470 Johnson Aug. 10, 1926 2,257,067 Parsons Sept. 23, 1941 2,262,989 Conklin Nov. 18, 1941 678,039 Royle July 9, 1901 1,859,901 Trebes May 24, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 343,300 Italy Sept. 21, 1936 

